Environmental Services

Serco Direct Services is a longstanding partner and provider of waste and streetscene services to UK Local Authorities.

We have a £1.5bn orderbook and hold long-term partnership contracts spanning upto 30 years many of which have been extended and re-awarded as second and third generation contracts.

We deliver waste and recycling collection, street cleaning, landscaping, vehicle maintenance and ancillary services exploiting the economies of scale and operating efficiencies that exist from a joined-up and fully integrated approach.

Our wide ranging capabilities in waste services have fully evolved to enable us to provide end-to-end solutions spanning collection, treatment, processing and disposal and through access to a network of strategic partner sites and facilities.

We work closely with our Local Authority clients to deliver dramatic and sustainable improvements in recycling performance, landfill diversion, environmental cleanliness and resident perception. Our success is due in part to our philosophy and approach which puts the resident at the very centre of the way we design and deliver services. We survey over 10,000 council tax payers each year and use customer feedback to shape service design and to continuously improve the services we provide.

Our customer centred approach goes beyond consultation and harnesses the benefits of long term investment in ICT, on-board and mobile technologies that provide real time, 24/7 access to our services across the digital divide and through social media enabling us to be accessible and keep in touch with the people we serve.

We place the safety of our people and of the residents we serve above all else. Investing in our workplaces, operating systems, vehicles and equipment and in the skills of our people so that the services we provide are delivered in safe, assured and sustainable way.

An accredited carbon trust company, we are committed to cutting carbon and to reducing the negative impacts of our service operations on the environment. We have delivered year on year reductions in carbon emissions through sustained investment, a culture of continuous innovation and an organisational commitment to trialing, evaluating and deploying the best and most effective carbon reducing technologies.

We invest in marketing and community engagement to help our local authority customers' deliver more for less using our embedded marketing teams and longstanding experience to harness community capacity and to deliver positive changes in resident attitudes and behaviours.

We recognise the important role we play as a major employer and service provider in local communities. We work in partnership with local small and medium sized enterprises and the community and voluntary sectors to provide solutions that are locally embedded, deliver wider societal benefits and which actively support local economies.

We lead the market, pioneering 'new models' of service delivery evolved from solid and proven foundations in the form of Serco's own Minimum MilesTM best operating practice. Serco were the first company to prove the financial benefits of shared services within the waste sector across a number of district authorities, an approach which has been both recognised, copied and adopted as best practice up and down the country.

Improving the safety of cyclists

Serco's direct services partnership director Tim Guile explains how we are using new technology to improve the safety of cyclists. Click here to read more in the CIWM Journal.

New research into the impact of recycling incentives in the UK

Serco, one the UK's leading environmental service providers, has published new research investigating the impact of recycling incentives. Serco commissioned Eunomia Research & Consultancy to explore the effect of incentives and reward schemes on recycling rates in over 30 boroughs across the UK. To read the full report, click here. A summary report is also ...

Robin Davies discusses recycling incentives

To hear Serco's Robin Davies discuss the findings of the report into recycling incentives, click here to watch a short video.

Our Services - Environmentally considerate and Socially responsible

Every part of our service delivery is assessed for its environmental impact. Our sustainability specialists are able to provide excellent advice on how we can mitigate this impact, whether it is the introduction of bio-fuels and electric vehicles, or the development of energy saving technology at our depots and offices. If there is a way to run our business ...